AAP to contest LS polls under Kejriwal's leadership

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said Saturday it would contest the upcomming Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, a day after he quit as Delhi chief minister.

AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said at a press conference here after a party meeting that its first anti-corruption rally will be held Feb 23 in Haryana's Rohtak district.

The second rally will be held March 2 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The rally will be led by Kejriwal.

Yadav justified Kejriwal's resignation Friday, saying the AAP has set a precedent as a government that is willing to quit.

"AAP was formed to contest election on several principles, one of the foremost being the Jan Lokpal bill," he said.

"As we were not allowed (to introduce the bill) and it became clear that in this assembly, it was impossible for AAP to even introduce the bill on Jan Lokpal, the party complimented Arvind Kejriwal for taking a clear decision of resigning," he added.

The AAP leader held a meeting Saturday morning to decide the future course of action.

Forty-nine days after he took charge of a minority Delhi government, Kejriwal resigned Friday following a tumultuous day in the assembly where combined Congress and BJP legislators "defeated" his AAP's attempts to introduce Jan Lokpal bill aimed to curb corruption in high places.